rhaspody [editing]

ii.

Stefan

+

STEFAN sighed.

He ran a calloused hand through his dark hair and adjusted the rims of his glasses.  It was the third time he had tried calling his father at school, and all of his calls weren’t being picked up. He sighed again. It was hard being the only son of a man who headed a private organization that he didn’t even know enough about. His dad wasn’t home most of the time, and he was usually stuck with cooking food by himself. And going by this tradition, he wouldn’t be there to pick his son up from school.

Before he could try and call again, a familiar voice took him by surprise.

“Hey, Rune.”

Stefan turned away from his locker, and saw a tall boy with dusty blonde hair striding up to him. He immediately knew who he was. Gabriel Steele, a student who was in most of his classes. Stefan smiled. He wasn’t close friends with him, or anything, but neither was he with anybody at the school. But unlike everybody else, Gabriel took the time to talk to him once in a while. He would sometimes walk with Stefan to class, and sit by him during lunch. He was a friendly boy who didn’t seem to have a bad bone in his body. Stefan appreciated him for that, at least.

“Ready for history?” the boy asked, giving him a grin. Stefan nodded, smiling slightly, and quickly turned back to his locker to gather up the rest of his books. He paused to look at his mobile phone for a second, and then shoved it back in the pocket of his jeans.

When the two approached the class room, it was half-filled with students already set up and at their desks. There was no sign of the teacher anywhere. Stefan and Gabriel chose the two desks in the middle-back row, and quickly sat in their seats. While Stefan was setting up his books required for the subject, he noticed some students coming in and steadily filling up the classroom. Within a matter of minutes, the teacher had arrived.

“Did everybody complete the homework from Monday’s lesson?” Mr Wicke said. A few students in the front started to shift uncomfortably in their seats.

“Well, if you haven’t, be prepared to miss out on lunch. I’ll be running a catch-up lesson in room C-9,” he started to glare at a student in the front row.

“That means you, Johnny.”

Johnny didn’t seem so happy.

After the teacher had taken the roll call, he then went on to recite a poem by Robert Frost. The lesson went by smoothly, much to Stefan’s relief. When Mr Wicke called on him to show him the homework from yesterday, he gladly did, and the teacher insisted that he keep up the good work. Afterwards, when the lesson had finished and most students were outside in the hall, Gabriel came running up to Stefan when he was at his locker.

“Hey!” Gabriel exhaled, leaning forward to catch his breath. “Did-did you finish the assignment on the authors we had to research?”

Stefan frowned, but he nodded. “Yeah, I gave it to Mr Wicke and he said he was going to mark and hand it back to me.”

Gabriel made a face. “Really? Damn. I was gonna ask if you had your reference list but seeing as how you don’t have it…”

“Sorry,” Stefan quickly apologized. “You can ask other students in our class if they have it.”

“You’re right,” the boy agreed. “I’m going to go ask Peter. Catch ya later!”

Gabriel immediately started to run down the corridor, having to push past a couple of students that were walking past. Some turned to give him annoyed looks, but others simply stepped aside to let him through. Stefan stared wistfully after him.